


Partners

by ThoughtsxStories



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M, The whole Batfam is actually present
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 23:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/919344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoughtsxStories/pseuds/ThoughtsxStories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian is just the annoying partner that Nell cannot stand. That's it! Or is it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Oversea

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I definitely feel like there's not enough Damian/Nell fics being written so I've taken the matter into my own hands (for the better or the worst).

Nell Little hates Damian Wayne. No scratch that. Nell Little cannot work with Damian Wayne. They are too alike. They are both leaders. They want to control everything but for some reason Damian thinks he is more  _apt_  for that. He tells her he's got more experience and he has more technique than her (and he adds with his  _oh so annoying Damian way_  that his techniques are better than hers anyway). Those are perfectly good arguments and Nell might had accepted them… had they not come out from someone as pompous as Damian Wayne.

He keeps telling her what to do on missions. He treats her like a kid. As if she hasn't been batgirl for a whole year now. She hates it, oh so much. And then he has the nerves to warn her about dying.  _Like Damian I'm sorry but you died once. We all know about the Leviathan_ She thinks it but she doesn't say it. Unlike what he believes she has common sense and she is a great observer. For example, she can see how tense he becomes when someone refers to his death. Even when he jokes about it with Todd, he doesn't put on a real smile (and neither does Jason when Nell thinks of it. They're must be something about death that is not fun to share.)

So for these reasons she doesn't bat an eye when Bruce announces that he is going on an undercover mission with Damian at the other side of the globe. She actually has to hide her own happiness. Out of sight, out of mind. That's what happens or at least that's what she tries to make happen. But for some reason, she wonders if he's okay, if he's safe, even if he's happy and she shouldn't care about that for god's sake. Anyway, she likes working with the rest of the Batfamily. She has to admit though that Steph is her favourite. She never judges Nell (in or out of mission) and she doesn't act like Nell is useless. Problem is she rarely sees Steph who spends most of her Nightwing days in Smallville or some other random cities like that. And when she sees Steph, the latter like to tease her about Damian. Which she really doesn't need, especially since she cannot stand Damian.

When Dick announces one day that he cannot reach Bruce and Damian, Nell feels sick with worry. She tells herself that it's normal to worry about your partner -no matter how annoying they might be. When that excuses start to feel like a lie. She tells herself that she's worrying about Bruce, after all he is the Batman. She can only breathe again when Barbara announces that Bruce and Damian contacted her. And before Nell can think she asks if Damian is ok. "Oh he is doing well." Dick answers with his I-know-something-you-don't-know smile. "And Bruce too, if you care." The relief she feels is enough to ignore the teasing Dick, Jason, Barbara, Steph and even Cass put her through. For the first month. After, it annoys her so much that she threatens of beating them up because GODAMNIT she doesn't care about Damian like that, he is her partner after all. That's it! Or is it?

When he comes back after 6 months of undercover work, she feels mad. Really how dare he not write to her or call her for the past months? She's his partner. (Somehow she's got herself using this word excessively and Tim warns her against that.)

When he sees her, he comments on her lack of growth. (And she can swear he glances at her chest but she's not sure why he would though.) She, however, did noticed his growth. She was at the manor, eating with the rest of the batfamily, when Damian and Dick entered the kitchen. They were both shirtless and sweating due to them coming out of a workout (at six in the morning, mind you). While she didn't care much for Dick, she couldn't get her eyes away from Damian (which he did not fail to comment on with a smirk later when they were on patrol). He had grown a few inches and had gained some muscles. Really how fair was that?


	2. Teasing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because sometimes life decides to make you have a crush on a complete jerk a.k.a. Nell has a crush on Damian and everyone knows it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the second chapter. My sister was the one that gave me positive feedbacks for this part so she should be the one to blame if it's actually shitty.

Honestly, nothing amused Damian more than Nell Little. One second she was this skilled detective/hero and the next she was a clumsy teenager with a severe crush on him. She hadn't need to confess anything, it had been quite obvious with the way she had been looking at him since he had came back from his mission. At first, the crushing thing had annoyed him- because really how was he supposed to work with someone that could be potentially distracted by his presence?

He knew that crushing on your partner could be harmful to the progress of the mission (and by he knew, he meant that he had experienced it with Brown a few years back- not that he would ever admit that). However, the whole thing had turned out to be more fun for him than he had thought. For some reason, Little would try to compensate her distractions by being more efficient on the field- and a more efficient partner was obviously something Damian wanted. She would be faster in her moves, quicker in her deductions, and overall she was just a better Batgirl (and although Damian liked to pretend the opposite, he found her quite good before his oversea undercover mission).

Something that Damian discovered he enjoyed to do was teasing her. He'd casually mention that she was eyeing him while they were on patrol just to watch her bite her lips and avoid his eyes (and damn Damian wasn't supposed to think that she was cute when she was acting shy). He quickly realized that the best way of getting a reaction out of her was to take off his shirt while they were training- supposedly because the training got him too hot- and to touch her. Suddenly his touch was like fire to her. She'd jump, avoid all of his blows and take on a defensive stance (and God knows that she was more of an offensive person which had cause a lot of troubles in their partnership- him being also offensive and all). On the other hand, he wasn't comfortable with other people teasing her on her crush.

He had discovered that one morning when he was eating breakfast with Grayson, Todd, Drake, Brown and Little. Grayson had randomly invited Nell to one of the many fundraising the Wayne brothers were supposed to make an appearance to.

"What would I be doing there?" She had asked between two bites of her waffle (which Damian had found particularly disgusting).

"Oh I thought it could be a nice date for you and Damian."

Both of the mentioned had choked on their bites and Nell had mumbled something about her parents wanting to see her before flying away. Damian had thrown a dirty look at Grayson before going after Nell. Somehow, she had indeed been his date to the fundraising. The teasing had promptly amplified and one member of the batfamily would often throw a "Come on Nell, Damian will be here", or a "Nell I know Damian is here and all but I'm the one talking to you" and some "So Damian, when are you asking Nell out?".

Faster then they could realized, the Nell and Damian banter had gone from "I hate you" to "I know you have a crush on me" to "Oh gosh can't they just stop the teasing already." (They being mostly Grayson and sometimes Todd when he wanted to heat the 'brat' up.)

Obviously, Nell was the first one to get tired of the constant teasing. She was in the middle of a sword fight with Damian when he said something along the lines of "Don't let my good look distract you from the combat" and just like that she had enough. She dropped her weapon and looked at him square in the eyes before stating "You're a jerk." She paused. "Like you're actually a jerk Damian. I- I don't even understand why I bother liking you because you are the worst. Can you just take a second and realize that I like you and you don't like me back? Cause all of you seem to think it's a big joke and I can't find it in myself to laugh anymore, ok? I'm sorry I have this stupid crush on you. I'm really sorry I'm such a burden."

She looked as if she was on the verge of crying and for once Damian had to drop his smirk and replaced it with a concerned look. "Nell…" He had to stop there because he had no idea of what he could tell her. Maybe he wasn't the nicest person but that didn't mean that he wanted to see Nell hurt. Sure she was annoying most of the times; not listening to his advice while he was the one with the most experience, second-guessing everything he said, and questioning all of his methods; but she was a great partner (and better than him on a lot of fields live communicating and stuff). So really- he decided later-, in that moment he was so dumbfounded that he wasn't really present. It wasn't really him that walked to Nell. It wasn't him that bite his lips before crashing them with hers. It wasn't him either that put his hands on her waist and noticed that they were both smiling through the kiss. And it was certainly not him that found himself wishing their lips hadn't parted when she left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will have more motivation to write another part if you ask for it, so don't be scared.


	3. Stephanie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephanie decides that Damian shouldn’t act the way he does and Nell shouldn’t hide the way she does. (The summary is actually quite random but it’s basically Steph talking to Damian and Nell).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had actually finished this chapter when I post the second part but I felt more comfortable posting this when I finished the fourth part. So yeah, I'm gonna post the next part when I finish the 5th part, and etc. Don't expect anything from this. There's more interaction between Nell and Damian in the next chapter (but not that much) and I'm gonna write more interactions in the 5th part. Like always asking me the next part gives me a whole lot more motivation to write it.

Damian hadn't bothered to move when Stephanie threw her first punch. Instead, he stopped her midway as if it was effortless (and gosh he was annoying with his over-confidence). He didn't even seem to proceed that she had attacked him out of the blue. "Wow, he's seriously not even there anymore." She thought. He seemed to take a moment before giving her his attention. He raised an eyebrow and when she didn't give him any explanation he just released her fist and started walking away. If he had stopped the first punch, Stephanie didn't miss him with the second one. It hit him right on his shoulder and while it might have hurt, she had made sure to not make any real damage. "-Tt-" How she hated that sound. He turned around with a hard expression on his face and seemed to debate whether to ignore her or to charge her.

"Mind sharing what's going on in this little brain of yours?" He asked with this oh-so-Damian tone (cause really there was no word to describe how he could use a tone so cold and detached but still let you know somehow that he cared). "Don't act like you don't know." She accused. He must have decided that she wasn't worth the talking cause he sighed and started walking away once again. "You kissed Nell." She screamed at him. "I'm aware of that." He said calmly, still walking. Stephanie ran up to him. The kid could be so daft sometimes. "It's not something you do Damian." She said as she walked with him. "She likes you and you know that. And now you're giving her false hopes." When he didn't answered she repeated herself asking if he understood. It took him a while but he finally let a "I'll apologize" be heard. She felt relieve and left his side."Brown-" He had stopped walking. "The next time you attack me, I'll break your wrist." She had to hold back her laugh.

"Oh you try that."  
"Don't worry, I will." He added with his oh-so-Damian smirk (because he had a way of smirking that wasn't ordinary, like Dick's smirk was just too nice while Jason's announced trouble and Damian's was just pure arrogance if you asked her).

When she entered the training room to find Nell hitting a dummy (quite violently really, Steph almost felt bad for the inanimate thing), she couldn't hide her smile.  
"Still training?"  
"I need to sharpen my moves."  
"Hmmm."

The teen stopped in her move and looked at her mentor.  
"A penny for your thought?" Nell asked in her I'm-Nell-Little-and-I'm-super-innocently-cute way.  
"Oh I was just thinking you look more like you are hiding than anything else."  
"Don't be ridiculous Steph, if I was hiding would I really be in the training room?" Nell asked rolling her eyes. She was about to hit the doll again, when she stopped and turned to the blonde. "You know he bossed me around last night?"  
"Doesn't he always?" Stephanie asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"I guess, but usually he teases me. Kinda. Like even before. Yesterday? Nothing. Nada." She shook her head. "You know what? Forget it. I'm making a big deal out of nothing." And with that she returned to hitting the poor dummy.

Truth be told, Stephanie was a gossiper. She was all about dramas and romantic stories and all. So dropping the subject? No, she would have rather not do that. But Nell had shared a lot with her the last few days so she decided that she could go back to that later.  
"So your parents are really ok with the whole hero thing?"  
"Ok? No. Adapting to it? Yeah."  
Nell had come clean to her parents months ago but Steph still couldn't believe that some parents were that understanding.

"Like obviously they'd liked it if I stop and all. And they're basically dying of heart attacks whenever I go out with the costume but you know, they always felt like this was going to be my path. I mean I made them sign me in almost all the fighting techniques classes since I was 8 so I could be batgirl. So…" She hit the dummy so hard that a part if it opened up.  
"Could've been a childhood dream."  
"It wasn't."

With that, the conversation ended and Stephanie joined Nell in her training. The latter was never talkative when she was practicing. She never said it but Stephanie suspected it was because she felt like she had something to prove. The rest of the Batclan had been in the business of justice (because it was a business) since their childhood while Nell had been Batgirl for only a year and some months. Stephanie trusted Nell and her abilities. The younger girl was so set on helping people and saving life, it was inspiring. The blonde had met her years ago and had even saved her life, and to hear Nell that day had changed her life cause from this moment on she had been determinate to become Batgirl. And that's why two years ago Steph took her under her protection and trained her.

She wasn't going to lie and pretend it was easy because it wasn't. Not only she had had to prepared Nell for the harsh reality of Gotham's crimes but she couldn't help but feel guilty. She was so scared that she was leading Nell to her death. Everytime the younger girl went on mission, Stephanie always wondered if it was the last time she saw her. And she had felt hopeful when Nell had told her two months ago that she wanted to come clean to her parents. She had hoped that they would have convinced/forced her to give up on the hero life; but no they had to be understanding parents. For a moment, she understood how Bruce felt about the Robins, Batgirls and all. But at the end of the day, she trusted Nell and her techniques and she trusted Damian to protect his partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews please? :)

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not have overused parentheses and dashes but that's the way I do it.


End file.
